美國總統(tǒng) Obama 和薩爾瓦多總統(tǒng)聯(lián)合記者招待會演講

1、Remarks by President Obama and President Funes of El Salvador in Joint Press ConferenceMarch 22, 2011National Palace, San Salvador, El Salvador3:00 P.M. CST      PRESIDENT FUNES:  (As translated.)  Thank you so much for your presence.  Thank you to all the fri

2、ends of the press, both domestic and international.      First of all, I would like to thank President Obama for his visit, and also to his family and his delegation that accompanied this morning.  And on behalf of my wife, Vanda, and all the people of El Salvador, I re

3、ally thank you, Mr. President, for the support that you have given to the people of El Salvador and to the process of transition and building of democracy that we're going through.  It is a great honor to have your presence in El Salvador.  So welcome, once again, Mr. President, and I

4、hope that you enjoy, the few hours that you're going to be here, the hospitality of our people.      President Obama asked me if this is the weather characteristic of this time of the year, and I was saying that, yes, and that it is a pity because if he had stayed a litt

5、le bit longer we could have invited you to get to see the beaches of our country that are one of the best in the region.      Dear friends of the press, this visit of President Obama is historical.  This encounter is produced when our country is immersed in a process of

6、 deep changes that started with the political - a transition that took place in a very orderly and peaceful manner that has meant a transcendental step forward for the consolidation of our democracy and of our institutions in the fight for transparency.      Therefore, we ar

7、e in the face of a great opportunity for our political, economic and social development, an opportunity that is historic in nature, to do away with the obstacles that in the past did not allow us to advance as a unit towards a new model of development with social justice.    

8、0; Your visit, Mr. President, is circumscribed within this process as showmanship of your recognition of the advancements in our democracy and the effort that we have carried out as a people to reach international consensus that will allow us to continue progressing together facing the great challen

9、ges, especially poverty and the commitment to get greater levels of citizen security.      We coincided when we were talking with President Obama that this visit to the Latin America region is fundamental, and he was telling me some details of his meeting with President Dilm

10、a Rousseff of Brazil and the President of Chile.      The truth, Mr. President, is that this is a fundamental visit, first of all because Latin America, after the democratization process that weve gone through the last two decades, is now a region in peace that enjoys the de

11、sserts, fruits of this great struggle for human rights and the strengthening of our democracies.      But also it is fundamental from the economic point of view because the majority of the Latin America countries are just overcoming this international crisis better than othe

12、r countries in the world based on models against poverty and betting on their productive sectors and the hardworking people that they have.      We celebrate these circumstances that situate Latin America as a fundamental point within the international reference after this i

13、nternational crisis.  And I think that the criteria with which you have based your visit to Latin America is as support to the path that my country has taken - to take Brazil and Chile as my points of reference.      First because Chile represents for us an example of d

14、emocratic transition that was very successful of overcoming dictatorships and polarization.  It is a country that has been able to cure its injuries to reach this institutional soundness that we admire so much.      And Brazil has also shown in the eight years of the pr

15、esidency of my friend, Lula, and now with the starting of the presidency of Dilma, Brazil has demonstrated that the struggle against poverty is the greatest engine for growth, and that this model that strives to improve production is also our inspiration.      So we celebrat

16、e being part of this visit, of this tour, and to be able to go more in depth in this friendship that we started on March 8th last year when I visited you in Washington.      And allow me briefly before I give the floor to President Obama to synthesize from my perspective som

17、e of the topics that we developed in this bilateral agenda.      First of all, as I said in private, now I say it in public in front of the friends of the President, I want to thank publicly the President of the United States for including our country in such important initi

18、atives like the Bridge Project and the Partnership for Growth.      Both are very important processes for us.  And in this sense, we have requested the President to dynamize this process so that these projects can become a reality as soon as possible. We already have a

19、schedule that foresees the definition of great projects in June, with which we will start this partnership.      I also want to thank the words of President Obama when he recognizes the importance of our population in the development of his country.  The presence of mor

20、e than 2 million of Salvadorans that work and live in the United States, and the importance that this population has in the development of El Salvador through the remittances that they send year by year.      Of course, migration was another key issue in our conversation.

21、60; We coincided once again with President Obama on the need to have focus for development and joint responsibility in this sense.  We also coincided that with regards to migration, the best strategy is the struggle against poverty and the creation of opportunities to have our people stay in th

22、eir places of origin.      Migration is a painful expression of a world that has not been able to establish accessible parameters of justice and inclusion.  I have expressed to President Obama my pleasure when I heard in his speech at the Union State the commitment of p

23、ushing an agreement of both parties, bipartisan agreement for comprehensive immigration reform and present it to the Congress of the United States.      And finally, we also talked about security, and we did so in an extended meeting with the presence of officials of the Cab

24、inet of President Obama, as well as ours.  This has been a key issue in this meeting and I have expressed to President Obama the willingness of my government to continue with the efforts of Central American security.      We said that narco activity, as such a security,

25、 is not an issue that is only a problem for El Salvador and Nicaragua, isolatedly, not even Colombia or Mexico alone.  Its a problem that attacks us as a region.  And this is why we are building a regional strategy through the CARSI Initiative.      Of course I als

26、o insisted that this is an issue that should not only be approached through the persecution of the crime by our armies and police, but that we have to stress prevention policies.  And therefore, the best weapon to combat and reduce crime in the region is through the investment in social policie

27、s.      And finally, I thanked President Obama, as I do it right now in public, for his decision to visit the tomb of Monsignor  Romero and the kindness of his invitation to accompany him in this historical visit.  As I have said, Monsignor is the spiritual guide o

28、f this nation, and the visit that you are going to carry out to the tomb of Monsignor implies for us a recognition of a leader, an international leader like President Obama, to the message of Oscar Romero and the universal validity of his message.      Thank you once again f

29、or your stay in our country, and we thank you for the expression of kindness by your wife and your children in this visit to El Salvador.  Thank you very much, Mr. President.      PRESIDENT OBAMA:  President Funes, thank you so much for your very generous words.

30、60; It was a pleasure to welcome you and First Lady Pignato to the White House last year.  I want to thank you today for welcoming me and my wife and our daughters to El Salvador.  We are honored to be here.      Yesterday in Santiago, Chile, I outlined how the Uni

31、ted States is forging partnerships for progress with nations and peoples across Latin America.  And there are few better examples of both the opportunities and challenges facing the Americas today than here in El Salvador.      Fortunately for El Salvador, it enjoys the

32、 wise leadership of President Funes.  Mr. President, I want to commend you for your courageous work to overcome old divisions in Salvadoran society and to show that progress comes through pragmatism and building consensus.  Youve articulated a vision of economic growth and social progress

33、that is inclusive of all segments of Salvadoran society.  And I want to make it clear today that the United States wants to be a partner with El Salvador in this process.  We want El Salvador to be successful.      Thanks to smart investments in education, rural de

34、velopment and infrastructure, El Salvador has made gains in reducing poverty.  And to build on this progress, El Salvador is one of the first four countries in the world in our Partnership for Growth, which is a key element of my administrations new approach to development.   

35、60;  Instead of the old donor-recipient model, were working as partners, with El Salvador in the lead, to confront the hurdles to growth and development.  As El Salvadors largest trading partner, well help identify reforms that can mobilize private investment, increase trade and create opp

36、ortunities for the Salvadoran people.  And one of the most important steps is to foster collaborations between government and the private sector, because both have so much to gain when people are lifted out of poverty and contribute to their countrys prosperity.      At

37、 the same time, we need to increase trade and economic growth across Central America.  I very much appreciated the Presidents insights on the region.  Today Im pleased to announce a new effort - our Crossroads Partnership.  Well work with countries in the region to make borders more e

38、fficient and more secure so were encouraging trade and economic growth rather than constraining it.      As President Funes mentioned, we discussed immigration.  President Funes is committed to creating more economic opportunities here in El Salvador so that people dont

39、 feel like they have to head north to provide for their families.  As I told the President, I remain firmly committed to comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.      I know this is especially important to the some 2 million Salvadoran people who are livin

40、g and working in the United States.  Theyre making extraordinary contributions to our country, even as they support their families and communities here in El Salvador.  So I updated the President on the new consumer protections that I signed into law, which give people more information and

41、 make sure their remittances actually reach their loved ones back home.      Today, were also launching a new effort to confront the narco-traffickers and gangs that have caused so much violence in all of our countries, and especially here in Central America.  Our two n

42、ations already cooperate very closely in the fight against these criminals.  As I said in my speech yesterday, the United States will do our part as the nations of Central America develop a new joint security strategy this spring.      Under the Central American Citizen

43、 Security Partnership that Im announcing today, well focus $200 million to support efforts here in the region, including addressing, as President Funes indicated, the social and economic forces that drive young people towards criminality.  Well help strengthen courts, civil society groups and i

44、nstitutions that uphold the rule of law.  And well work closely with regional partners like Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Canada, and international partners like Spain, the European Union and the Inter-American Development Bank.  This has to be a coordinated effort that draws on the unique expe

45、rtise of different countries and institutions.      Finally, were deepening our efforts to pursue sustainable energy and to address climate change, which is already a harsh reality for Salvadorans and people across the region who face more frequent and more severe storms.

46、60; El Salvador is already a leader in geothermal energy.  Under the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas, El Salvador is working to connect grids in this region to make electricity more reliable.  I want to commend President Funes for taking another step today - agreeing to host

47、 a regional center where the nations of this region can come together to find new ways to reduce emissions and prevent deforestation.         So, again, Mr. President, I want to thank you for welcoming me here today and for your commitment to closer ties between ou

48、r nations.  I think the partnership that were forging together are exactly whats needed in the Americas today - neighbors joining with neighbors to realize progress that none of us can achieve alone.  Every nation, I believe, no matter how large or how small, can contribute to that progres

49、s.  And I believe that under the leadership of President Funes, El Salvador can be a source of great prosperity and security for this region for many years to come.      Thank you very much.      Q    Good afternoon.  Preside

50、nt Obama, I would like to ask you if you could explain a little bit more how you are going to distribute this $200 million throughout the region with regards to security.      And we would like to know the opinion of President Funes on the commitment of El Salvador and Centr

51、al America in this effort.      PRESIDENT OBAMA:  The emphasis is to work with a regional approach and the various Central American countries have come together to help shape and design how that money might be best spent.  So rather than the United States coming in

52、 and saying, heres the best way to do things, what we want to do is to hear what are the respective challenges that each country is facing.      The regional security initiatives that are already taken place, we can build on.  We obviously need to focus on basic policin

53、g, security, rule of law, the judicial system - that's a component of it.  But as President Funes indicated, part of the key is making sure that we're also using this to reach young people and give them the better path.      I thought President Funes gave a very

54、 eloquent response to one of my questions during our bilateral meeting.  He said, I don't want a young man in El Salvador or a young woman in El Salvador to feel that the only two paths to moving up the income ladder is either to travel north or to join a criminal enterprise.  

55、60;   And that's why emphasis on education and emphasizing social programs, giving young people other pathways has to be part of this overall program.      But we're in close consultation.  This is a program that will be designed and led here in Centra

56、l America by the respective governments.  And Im confident that President Funes will show great leadership in making sure that that money is appropriately used here in El Salvador.      PRESIDENT FUNES:  (As translated.)  Thank you very much, President Obama,

57、for your comments, especially for your expectations of this new contribution for the Central American region that President Obama is announcing today.      When we started with the CARSI Initiative, this initiative aimed at responding to a concern that we had as Presidents o

58、f the region, which is that organized crime, particularly as common crime and crime in general, is not a problem only of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Colombia or Mexico.  Its a problem that we can only face as a region.  The capacity of operating of these criminal organizations, th

59、e financial capacity to buy institutions to permeate the different institutions and penetrate our institutions is so large that if we do not join as countries, as nations, and if we do not use the successful experiences of countries like Colombia and Mexico, we will not be able to defeat this proble

60、m.      This is why I have been assisting in international fora and with Central American integration meeting in June last year, where we said that besides trade, we need to have a regional security policy.  We have submitted our request to the authorities and the gover

61、nment of the United States to have greater cooperation funds earmarked to perfecting our police, modernize our military institutions, and to also perfect and modernize our public ministries, especially in the development of a greater capacity to investigate crimes - specific crimes like financial cr

62、imes.  We are projecting a training program with the assistance of the United States for 150 prosecutors to specialize the investigation of complex crimes like organized crime.      And something that is very important and Im pleased to hear that President Obama agrees

63、with us, that the efforts that we make in repression and persecution of criminals is not going to do anything unless we take away from the criminals the fertile soil that they have found in this region.  And this fertile soil is thanks to the fact that we have a lot of youngsters that are livin

64、g in a situation of poverty and social exclusion - exclusion from the benefits and the services that the state should give them.  And this is why I insisted with President Obama that we cannot continue offering our youngsters in El Salvador and the region, go to the United States to find employ

65、ment and entertaining and education opportunities that they don't find here, or to fall in the hands of the criminal gangs - especially the gangs.      How can we avoid this?  Investing more in prevention policies.  Our focus as a region, and particularly as the government of El Salvador is that the